PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — “She’s never forgotten where she came from.”
Jimmy Richardson has seen Dawn Staley’s soaring journey from North Philadelphia to the Temple Owls, a career as a WNBA All-Star, Olympic gold medalist as a player and coach, Basketball Hall of Fame member, and now the coach of the 2022 NCAA women’s basketball Final Four champion South Carolina Gamecocks after their win over UConn in Tuesday night's championship game.
“We’re still dancing. We’re still dancing,” said Richardson, who is with the Hank Gathers Rec Center at 25th and Diamond streets. He grew up in the same era of Philadelphia high school basketball as Staley, and won a city championship with Ben Franklin High in 1984.
Richardson described Staley, the first-ever Black coach to win two NCAA Division I championships for either men’s or women’s basketball, as a student of the game with a passion for basketball, playing a position that perhaps is the most highly conducive for developing future coaches.
“As a point guard, you know, she was a heck of a facilitator. And if you're a facilitator, you’re kind of paying attention to what's going on,” said Richardson. “She knew how to get everybody involved in the game.”
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That ability to lead a team not only turned Staley into an All-Star and Olympian, but a coach who has made four Final Fours, won two of them, and even led Team USA to a gold medal last year in the Tokyo Olympic Summer Games.
“I didn't know she was going to be this big. I didn't know,” said Richardson. “God had a hand on her. I just knew that Dawn went through all these levels. She had good counsel. She had a good mentor. She had good teachers. She had good coaches. She had good [leaders] like a mom and other family members in the community. She had her church.”
The village that helped raise her to be a championship coach included another Temple-based master of the craft.
“The administrators at Temple said, ‘Look, I think you should be a coach,’” Richardson added. “Then the great legendary John Chaney spoke to her…wow, you know, John Chaney speaks to you and gives you some wisdom and some knowledge. You know, that's awesome.”
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Richardson believes Staley’s journey, and the person she has become in the process, has made North Philly proud.
“This is what we want kids to know,” said Richardson. “You can live in North Philly. You can live in South Philly. You can live in the projects. You can live impoverished, and come out of this the way you should come out of it. So that's why we call her our diamond in the rough.”
As far as never forgetting where you're from, as Richardson put it, Staley has always given back 100%, through programs like the Dawn Staley Foundation which focuses on giving at-risk teens mentoring and personal development. She has deeply touched the lives of many through her programs at the Hank Gathers Rec Center.
“Thank you for everything you have done,” said Richardson.
“Not just for the Hank Gathers Center, but for the community in South Carolina and Temple, but also for touching little girls’ and little boys' lives. We love you.”
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